Enhancing the School Success of Boys of Color Grades PreK-3 Train-The-Trainer Summer Institute Lansing Public Schools July 14, 2011 Dorinda J. Carter Andrews, Ed.D.

Module 3 Understanding the Development of a Positive Male Identity for Boys of Color

The Current Crisis The issues boys face in school cross economic and ethnic groups; yet, these issues disproportionately negatively affect boys of color. Issues like: Discipline policies The structure of the school day Classroom structure Assignments

The Current Crisis: Did You Know? Boys get the majority of the D’s and F’s in most schools – in some, as high as 70% Of children diagnosed with learning disabilities, 70% are boys Boys make up 80% of school discipline problems Of high school dropouts, 80% are young males.

The Current Crisis Ask yourself: 1.Do more boys than girls in my classes chronically underperform? 2.Are boys in my school receiving a disproportionate number of lower grades? 3.Is medication becoming a first or second resort for far more boys than actually need it? 4.Are boys in your classrooms giving up on learning, becoming labeled, getting in more trouble than they should be?

Revive the Role of Family in Education Families matter! Develop a parent-led team (Gurian & Stevens, 2005) Rethink what we mean by parent involvement

How Boys Learn The new gender science sees children as creatures of three formative powers: nature, nurture, and culture Boy Energy Boys tend to learn by innovating in risk-taking ways Many boys need a lot of physical movement and manipulation of physical objects

Activity 3.1 – The Box Exercise Debrief Questions 1.What surprised you about your ideas about manhood? 2.What surprised you about your responses for identifying men of color? 3.What surprised you about the responses of your partner/group members for mainstream constructions of manhood? 4.What surprised you about your responses from the perspective of a male of color? 5.What was easiest about completing this exercise? Hardest? 6.How did this exercise help you understand constructions of masculinity in mainstream society and across racial groups?

Constructions of Masculinity Activity 3.2 – Tough Guise video clips Activity 3.3 – Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes

Tough Guise Debrief What are the implications of the Tough Guise clips for understanding young boys’ (of color) identity development? What can you do to nurture the development of a positive male identity in your classroom?

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes Debrief Questions How did you feel watching this video clip? How is the masculine box that Byron Hurt describe similar to/different from the masculine box that Jackson Katz describes in Tough Guise? Do you agree with the argument that ‘the violent masculine identity’ is historical in nature (in the U.S.)?

What Stuck? An ‘Aha’ moment A pleasant surprise Something that you had to struggle with to understand Something that you don’t agree with Something that you agree with strongly Something you thought was particularly interesting Something you didn’t expect An insight or solution Something you want to know more about/A question that you have

What Stuck? Aha moment: The dominant social groups and their issues remain invisible; this frames conversations – the invisibility does Violence committed by subdominant group members is always highlighted; dominant group members remain invisible I want to incorporate some of the positive hip-hop in my classroom to support movement I’d like to organize a field trip that allows kids to practice code-switching (and even teachers) There are hip-hop CDs for early childhood education